Images of Beauty

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the images of beauty that appear in the North American media and how these compare to the reality of how women in America look today. It discusses women's perception of themselves and how much they strive to compete with the media's portrayal of women. The paper concludes that women do want to be, or appear, attractive, however they feel that their accomplishments should not be conjoined with their appearance.

From the Paper:

"Ageism is another issue with female portrayals in the media. While there are now magazine ads specifically oriented to middle-aged and senior citizens, and some of the models represent that age group, for the most part, the general interest magazines and the television programs depend on viewer interest on youth and beauty- except, perhaps, in comedy programming Appearance matters, it seems, on television news, as well. Not merely age, but the preferred white Caucasian look, which seems to be one of the few means of overcoming male domination in the media news business. Not only is there a dearth of female anchors and top reporters in the media, but minorities are under-represented as well. While the networks have several leading white women reporters, only Connie Chung and Sophia Choi, both now on CNN are Asians, and there are very few black or brown female faces visible."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Birmingham, Elizabeth: "Fearing the freak: How TV talk shows articulates women and class" Washington D.C.: Journal of Popular Film & Television, Fall, 2000
• Hoynes, William: "Provocateur: Images of Women an d Minorities in Advertising" Washington D.C. Contemporary Sociology. March 2001
• Kingston, Lindsey: "Workshops Analyzer the portrayals of women in the media" Boston: Greater Boston NOW newsletter, February 1999
• Knight, Jennifer L. and Giuliano, Traci A.: "He's a Laker, she's a Looker: The consequences of gender-stereotypical portrayals of male and female athletes by the media" New York: Sex Roles, Plenum Publishing Co., Aug. 2001
• Peaock, Mary: "Fashion magazines promote fantasy" Women.com, 2002

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